


Thankfulness

by TonyPie17



Series: Rose of Every Colour [5]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Flower Language, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Sick!Bilbo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-14
Updated: 2015-03-14
Packaged: 2018-03-17 21:06:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3543779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonyPie17/pseuds/TonyPie17
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo catches a cold, and someone comes by to help him out, someone Bilbo is thankful to see...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thankfulness

_“Bilbo Baggins!”_

Bilbo jumped in his bed, surprised to hear such an upset voice calling for him. He looked up and saw one of his Dwarrows standing in his doorway. Dori was huffing, as if he’d run all the way up to Bilbo’s room (and knowing Dori, he probably had, the moment he’d heard the news).

Bilbo managed a tiny smile, before a horrid cough racked his frame. Dori near panicked when he saw Bilbo almost fall from his bed, the force of his spasms enough to send him to the edge.

“Honestly, Bilbo, wandering outside the mountain _when a storm was on the horizon_? You’re supposed to be the smartest of the lot!” Dori went about making sure he was comfortable, before he left the bedroom to go somewhere Bilbo didn’t know. He returned about five minutes later, and took up residence at Bilbo’s bedside.

“I’ve put on the kettle for you, a good cup of Elderberry tea will help with that congestion,” Dori nodded. Bilbo smiled gratefully.

“Thank you, Dori,” he said.

“And I’ve sent for extra blankets and a heating pad.”

“Thank you.”

They lapsed into comfortable silence, and Dori pulled out a few papers to look over. Bilbo snuggled back down into his bed, and they sat enjoying each other’s company, something the two hadn’t been able to do in weeks. They saw each other at meal times, of course, but they never really had a chance to sit down and talk about something that wasn’t work related.

“I’m surprised Thorin isn’t up here watching over you,” Dori chuckled after a bit.

“Hm?” Bilbo glanced up from beneath his blankets, looking over at his friend. Dori looked at him, before shaking his head. He could hear the kettle whistling.

“Nothing, Master Bilbo, nothing at all.”

Bilbo watched the Dwarf leave, wondering why he thought _Thorin_ of all people should’ve been taking care of him. But then again, there was still quite a bit about Thorin he didn’t know. Maybe he was secretly a healer.

“If you’re thinking that Thorin might be something of a healer, stop that train of thought right now,” Dori snorted as he came back, two cups of tea in his hands. “You and I both know he could barely take care of his nephews when you went for that Elven party last spring.” He held a cup out to the Hobbit. Bilbo sat up further and took the cup from him, inhaling deeply and smiling a bit.

“Did you make this with the berries from the garden?” he asked, taking a sip. The warmth seemed to seep down directly into his bones. His chest felt warm, but as he drank more he felt like his breathing had gotten much better. Now he didn’t feel like there was so much liquid in his lungs.

“Aye, I did. There was quite a few left over after Bombur made that delicious wine. I brought some up when Ori mentioned you feeling a bit under the weather. And I could only wonder why,” Dori gave Bilbo a pointed look, and to apparently prove his point, thunder crashed outside. The storm had been raging for a full day and night now; the entire time Bilbo had been forced to stay in bed. Kili had joked that the skies were unhappy about the Hobbit being unable to leave his bed.

“Thank you, Dori. And I’m sorry,” Bilbo gave Dori a smile, placing his (now empty) tea cup to the side.

Dori’s expression softened up and he nodded himself, smiling as well. He finished his own cup of tea and took both dishes back to the kitchen. When he returned, he had pieces of the pie Bombur had sent up the day before. Bilbo’s eyes practically lit up when he spotted it, and he took it with a hungry gleam in his eye.

“Thank you.” It seemed to be his phrase for the day, because he had been thanking Dori the entire time.

“Twas no trouble, none at all,” Dori sat down once more, his own piece in hand.

Before Bilbo really dug in, he stopped to look at Dori. The Dwarf had been helping him for _much_ longer than he really usually thought about; during the quest, Dori had gifted him with a heavy cloak, to keep out the rain and to keep warm at night. It had been very useful, and Bilbo had appreciated it more than most of his other things.

That was how he realized he knew _just_ which flower in his garden he absolutely _needed_ to give to Dori. He set the slice of pie to the side, and managed to get himself out of his bed.

“Bilbo―!” Dori spluttered when the Hobbit left the room, and immediately went after him, their desert forgotten.

Bilbo had known Dori would follow, and he walked out the door to his garden. Dori walked out right behind him, and looked up at the dark skies. The rain beat hard against the glass of Bilbo’s greenhouse, the water coming down in sheet seemingly. A bolt of lightning reminded him why he had come out, and he looked around for Bilbo. He spotted the Hobbit hunched over a bush of flowers. Hurrying over, he was prepared to tell Bilbo that this was the _exact_ reason why he had gotten sick in the first place when Bilbo turned and presented him with a dark pink flower.

“Bilbo, we can all the way out here for a―a _rose_?”

Bilbo knew Dori would say that, which was why he smiled and shook his head.

“You know Hobbits and their silly customs. I simply had to give you this, before I forgot,” Bilbo explained. He held it out, and Dori took it, his brow furrowed. The rose was― _delicate_ , like his good tea set, which he only ever took out on special occasions. He was almost afraid he might accidentally crush it, if he didn’t know his own strength.

“It means, thankfulness,” Bilbo explained over the rumbling of thunder. “You’ve helped me with quite a bit, and I always seem to be saying thank you to you.”

Dori looked at the rose, and then to Bilbo, feeling quite a bit of shock that Bilbo would be thankful of him and his, as Nori would call it, mother henning.

“Bilbo, I’m flattered,” he managed to say, and Bilbo smiled, prepared to speak again when another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. Immediately, Dori looked at the Hobbit.

“Thank you for this, Bilbo, now _get back inside!_ ”

[][][][][]

There was a bit of a draft in the greenhouse that Thorin had to look into before the winter months came, but things would be fine for now. The storm hadn’t caused the greenhouse any damage, thank goodness, but Bilbo had managed to get even sicker because he’d gone out without a blanket to keep warm. Dori had scolded him about it when he came up for tea, but Bilbo knew he didn’t really mean most of it, because the silver haired Dwarrow wore the rose Bilbo had given him on his clothing.

Thorin had seen the rose when Bilbo’s “watch” had changed, and he’d only wondered about it briefly before the next day. Bilbo was allowed to walk around on his own after two days, and Thorin was helping him (re: trying to help and getting yelled at for being in the way) when he spotted the vase, which held four flowers now instead of three. He’d been rather surprised to see the darker pink rose leaning against the light pink one.

“Will you ever tell me what they mean?” Thorin asked once he and Bilbo were sat at the kitchen table, bowls of stew in front of them.

“Hm?” Bilbo looked up from his bowl, brow furrowed. “Tell you what what means?”

“The roses, Master Burglar.” Thorin smiled, shaking his head. Bilbo’s brow smoothed out and he chuckled.

“I will, Master King. In time, when the cast is complete.”

**Author's Note:**

> I am very sorry this took so long to write. I said one a day but last Sunday I got caught up helping my Aunt out (she really inspired this story, and I've been spending more and more time in her flower shop) and then the entire week I had school. It was all really stressful, and by accident I wrote the one after this before I wrote this one. So I had to write out this one.
> 
> Good news though, the next one in the series goes up tonight at midnight without delay!


End file.
